Court of Inquiry into M'lore air crash soon: Patel

A Court of Inquiry into the Mangalore air crash, which claimed 158 lives, is likely to be notified shortly, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said on Thursday.

"We are going to notify the Court of Inquiry shortly," he told reporters.

He said the data and the material has been collected by various agencies, including Air India, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and the United States National Transportation Safety Board. "The Black Box (Flight Data Recorder), the Cockpit Voice Recorder and the Digital Flight Data Acquisition Unit have all been recovered," Patel said.

"We will now proceed with the investigation by notifying the Court of Inquiry very soon," he said. Official sources said the legalities of constituting the Court, including whether it would be headed by a serving or former high court judge, have been studied.

The court would be assisted by two assessors with a background in aviation, they said, adding that one of them could be from engineering and the other from operations, so that all aspects of the May 22 crash of the Air India Express flight could be inquired into.

The Boeing 737-800 of the Air India Express had overshot the Bajpe Airport runway on May 22 and its 90-metre long spillover area, plunged into a ravine and burst into flames, claiming 158 lives.

Almost all the material evidence collected from the crash site has been taken over by the inspector of accidents, appointed by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation a day after the crash. These would be handed over to the Court of Inquiry, once it takes over charge.